EarthBound Wiki:Naming conventions
Shortcuts: EW:NAME, EW:NC, EW:TITLE. Naming conventions sets out EarthBound Wiki's policy on how to create and name pages. The conventions are supplemented and explained by the guidelines linked to this policy. Use the most easily recognized name Generally, article naming should prefer how the subject of the article is recognized in English publications of Mother. As EarthBound is the only installment of the series to be officially localized and released by Nintendo, content should be named as it is recognized in EarthBound, regardless of which game it appeared in. For example, the PSI ability Defense down appears in all three installments of the series, and is spelled as such in EarthBound, however the English prototype of Mother developed four years prior spells the ability "DefenseDown". Mother 3 has no particular spelling as there have been no attempts to officially localize the game (although a fan translation spells it "Defense Down"). Because EarthBound is the only title to be reproduced in English and marketed by Nintendo, the article naming prefers how the subject is recognized in EarthBound, regardless of how many cross-appearances it makes throughout the series. Another example of this is Tazmily Village, which appears in the Japanese exclusive Mother 3. A trophy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl refers to the settlement as "Tazumili Village" (descriptions in the game prefer the Japanese form of another name as well, Porky, the original moniker of Pokey Minch prior to error in the English localization of EarthBound). Despite there being no official English version of the game, numerous publications during the development of EarthBound 64, the eventually canceled project which later served as the basis for Mother 3, refer to the location as "Tazmily Village". Therefore, the naming convention for Mother 3-exclusive content should be based on how the subject is construed in English publications of the game. Exceptions can be made however when there is no official English exposition on the subject, and under these circumstances the naming should prefer how the subject is recognized in The Unofficial Mother 3 Fan Translation. Though unofficial, this is the only English version of the game and was handled by an experienced team, among them Tomato, who has a background in professional localization. Add redirects A redirect should be created for articles that may reasonably be found under two or more names, such as the ''Mother'' series, the video game EarthBound Beginnings and Ness' mother. Conversely, a term that may be used to describe several different search terms may require a disambiguation page. How to rename an article There are several reasons why one may wish to rename an article: * The title has been misspelled. * The title does not follow the wiki's naming conventions. * The scope of the article has been reduced, extended or otherwise changed. * A Talk page may be moved as one of the methods of archiving discussion. Pages in the image or category namespace cannot be moved. To change the name of an image, one needs to upload it again, and copy the image description. To change the name of a category, one needs to change all category tags, and copy the editable part. With the correct page displayed, resisted users must click on the "move" tab near the top of the page (in default Monobook skin). You'll be asked for a new name for the page, and given the option to also move the page's talk page. NOTE: Unless you know what you're doing, it's safest to say yes. As of MediaWiki 1.5, the reason for the move can be given, like an edit summary. Click the move button and the page will be renamed to the new title. The old title will become a redirect page, so any links to the old title will still go to the new page. However, note that double redirects (pages that redirect to the original page), will not automatically follow to the new page, so you will have to refer them manually. # After a successful page move, a page looking like this will be shown: MediaWiki:Movepage-moved; # Open the "What links here" tool for that page (there may be a shortcut link on the page-moved summary screen to let you do this, but the "What links here" link will in any case be in the toolbox, which is near the bottom of the sidebar unless you've customized your skin away from the default Monobook); # Open all redirect pages that are indented in the list, and make them redirect to the page you moved to (that is, without intermediate step); # If there are more than 50 pages listed on the "What links here" page, don't forget to navigate to all parts of the list using the "next 50" or other links available. General conventions Use English form of names of persons and things Except where there is no English title can be traced to an English publication such as particular background enemies or items exclusive to Mother 3, use the name of a person or thing as it is recognized in English publications of Mother, or for subjects which make cross-appearances throughout the series, use the name as it is recognized in EarthBound, being the only Mother game officially marketed in English, where applicable. If the subject appears in Mother and Mother 3, but not EarthBound, use the exact spelling form used in Mother, as this game was localized by Nintendo but beyond a prototype, it has not materialized. Lowercase second and subsequent words in titles Do not capitalize second and subsequent words unless the title is almost always capitalized in English (for example, proper names). Thus, capitalize Pokey Minch and Geldegarde Monotoli, but not Letter from Kids. The first letter of an item should not be capitalized just because it is a wikilink; upper and lower cases will direct readers to the same page (for example, Letter from 'k'ids and Letter from 'K'ids). Prefer singular nouns In general only create page titles that are in the singular, unless that noun is always in a plural form in English or concerns a small class that requires a plural. Avoid the definite article ("the") and the indefinite article ("a"/"an") at the beginning of the page name If the definite or indefinite article would be capitalized in running text, then include it at the beginning of the page name. Otherwise, do not include it at the beginning of the page name. Examples: "Ultimate Chimera" instead of "The Ultimate Chimera", or "Runaway Five" instead of "The Runaway Five". Category:EarthBound Wiki guidelines